


Seven Minutes

by memeberd



Category: Captain Underpants Series - Dav Pilkey
Genre: Claustrophobia, M/M, death mention, i wanted to write an otp cliche and heres how it turned out, lots of ocs jeez, nobody dies its just part of what the character is concerned about when they're panicking, sweats, theres a part where one of the characters has a panic attack so like, uhhhhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 07:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11527341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memeberd/pseuds/memeberd
Summary: I've never actually been to a highschool party with drinks, but I felt the urge to write something cliche.





	Seven Minutes

“Well _hello,_ Billy!” Carlos yelled out only to humiliate the similar-haired sophomore as he approached with a tiny piece of paper in his hand. “What’s a good little boy like you doing over here?” He yanked the piece of paper out of Billy’s hand and looked at it, Billy’s name was scrawled on it, he smirked at Billy and placed it in a giant novelty coffee mug with other pieces of paper.

“You invited me!” Billy replied over the booming bass heavy music with a scowl.

“No dumbass, I meant what are _you_ of all people fucking doing subjecting yourself to being trapped in a closet with another person.” Carlos clarified. "You're not exactly a social butterfly, kiddo."

Billy placed his hands on his hips in a dignified manner. “Just feeling confident, I guess.”

“Mhm,” Carlos said, scowling condescendingly at Billy from underneath his long bangs. “Lemme just remind you, you don’t know anybody here.” That statement was almost true, and it sent Billy’s stomach into spirals.

“I know Harold and George.” Billy argued, half trying to calm himself.

“That’s two out of eighty something people here," Carlos raised two fingers for emphasis, "and George isn’t even playing!”

“So Harold’s playing, then?” Billy asked, voice filled with unconcealed hope.

“I knew it, you want to get with Harold don’t you?” Carlos asked, a pleased smile growing on his face. Billy’s eyes drifted into the kitchen where George and Harold were. The two out-of-place freshmen had brought many a pack of mentos and were tossing the tablets into poor unsuspecting partygoers’ beers and laughing. They were careful to hide the packs in Harold’s giant hoodie; if anyone knew they were the ones responsible for a few innocent beer cans vomiting and going flat they’d without a doubt get their asses kicked.

“No!” Billy lied, face turning a damning pink. Carlos’ attitude finally softened, he got closer to Billy, body swaying rhythmically to the music whoever was in control of the speakers was blaring. Billy grimaced, letting Carlos dance close to him.

“You don't have to lie to me. Harold’s a pretty sweet guy. If you get him, smooch him _real good_ for me won’t you?” Carlos asked, swiveling his hips around and raising his arms. What a bad dancer, Billy thought.

“Whatever happens in there happens.” Billy said.

“If you two don’t kiss in my closet I'll die." Carlos complained.

"That's unfortunate,"

“Hey, Carlos! Some asshole’s making a mess in the kitchen!” Another junior named Tommi McNille shouted from atop the stool she had perched on in the kitchen, she held up her can of beer that was vomiting foam now due to having a mentos tablet dropped into it. That meant it was time for Harold and George to go to a different location in Carlos’ house. They innocently walked past Carlos and Billy who were standing at the entrance of the kitchen. Carlos grabbed Harold by the hood of his jacket as he passed by, effectively stopping him. Harold squeaked in alarm before Carlos dragged him backwards by the hood.

"Harold! Billy and I were just talking about you, how about you two watch the name mug while I find out who's making my kitchen inhabitable." Carlos said before dropping Harold's hood and trekking into the kitchen to join Tommi. After Carlos was out of earshot Harold broke the silence between him and Billy with an overexcited sigh.

"I saw you and George dropping mentos in those guys' beers!" Billy confirmed over the bass of the music blaring on the speakers in Carlos' living room before Harold even said anything. Harold deviously peeked one of the packs of mentos out of his pocket and laughed like a maniac before slipping it back in. "Did you drink anything?"

"Nah, beer's fucking nasty! No, George and I were _saving_ those other guys! Don't tell anyone though," Harold leaned in close to Billy so he wouldn't have to shout the next part, "Tommi looks like she could crush a watermelon with her thighs." That made Billy laugh.

Billy and Harold looked in Tommi's direction, she had long, messy ringlets of red hair and her eyeliner was feathering from passage of time. She and Carlos were both soaking up beer off the floor and counters with towels. Her thighs were pretty thick, she must have been proud of them, she was wearing ripped shorts that revealed most of her tan legs to everyone here. Billy recalled seeing her running laps with the rest of the weights class while he studied outside.

"She's got nice war paint!" Billy said over the music, referring to Tommi's eyeliner.

Harold giggled, turning back to Billy. "Yeah, it actually looks pretty nice on her!" He shouted back. They both nodded pleasantly before falling silent a few seconds, Harold bit down on his lip before finally speaking again. "I'm really glad you're here, I wanted to see you!"

Billy tried to restrain his chest from swelling with excitement. "Oh, wow," He stiffly said, eyes darting around the vicinity, "I was hoping I'd see you too!"

Harold's eyes widened and he gasped sharply, covering his mouth. " _NOOOO!_ " He screamed.

"What?!" Billy cried out. Without warning, somebody tugged at the back of Billy's shirt collar and dropped three ice cubes down his shirt. Billy shrieked and coiled in extreme discomfort at the sensation of the stinging chill of the damn things slithering down his skin, he frantically tore at the bottom of his shirt to get the ice cubes to fall onto the floor. After feeling the third ice cube slip out of his clothing, Billy whipped around to face George who was doubled over and wheezing with laughter. "You're drunk!" Billy shouted at him.

"A drunk person wouldn't be able to drop three ice cubes down your shirt as precisely as I did!" George defended himself.

" _IT WAS THAT JOKER!_ " Tommi bellowed from the kitchen over the blaring music, pointing a powerful finger at George. Most of the surrounding teenagers went silent and focused on Tommi and George to see what would happen next. Maybe Tommi would hurdle over the counter and tackle him for his crimes!

"Me? Wha- hah, what are you _talking_ about?!" George motioned to himself, feigning shock. Tommi looked absolutely miffed at George’s presence.

"Yeah, I don't think so, Tommi." Carlos said, almost finished mopping up the beer on the floor with a towel, "George is one of the youngest people here!" Some of Tommi’s anger was soothed by her roommate, Carlos, but she still growled and squinted at George before going back to cleaning up the spilled beer. George gave Harold and Billy a heinous grin, eyes half lidded. The three boys giggled in secret as the party continued around them.

"Soo," George began, "are you playin' seven minutes in heaven, Billy?" His question stirred up similar nervous reactions in both Harold and Billy.

Billy swallowed dryly. "I actually, am..." Billy said.

Harold and Georged exchanged shocked glances before looking back at the glasses wearing nerd. This was an incredibly bold action on Billy's part, the most he had ever done was visit either George or Harold's house with both boys in his company, Billy had even admitted it himself.

"Wow," George marveled. "Got anybody in mind?" It was already pretty hot due to how many people were in Carlos' house, but it was near sweltering now for poor Billy. His skin prickled with the beginning of sweat and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Yeah, you know anybody else here?" Harold asked. Billy closed his mouth, he couldn't speak now. Dumbfounded, he admired how Harold's eyes were sparkling in the light from Carlos' kitchen. The fluffy-headed freshman sounded like he hadn't suspected Billy entered specifically to be alone with him for seven minutes at first, but that smile on his face said something else. Harold's question sounded unassuming, but Billy realized that maybe he entered hoping the same thing Billy was. He wasn't nervous anymore, he wanted to hold the shorter blonde boy and touch his round face. He wanted to tell him _“It’s you!”_ and kiss Harold's forehead, he wanted to press kisses all over his face.

Okay, actually, he was _definitely_ still nervous. Otherwise, he'd be doing all that right now. Instead, he resisted the urge to shiver and said, "Um, I was just throwing myself in to get out of my comfort zone, you know?"

George was leaning his weight against Harold's shoulder, giving Billy a look of _"Are you kidding me?"_ Harold glanced down at the ground, he either believed him or was dissapointed that Billy still couldn't admit that he was in love with Harold.

___

Seven minutes in heaven wasn't typically something that'd happen at any party he would throw, but, this was a special occasion just for Harold. Of course, if Harold wasn't so determined to date that nerd, Carlos would have rigged the game so they could have time together instead. But, here he was now. Playing wingman for this cute, dorky, curly-headed kid he only knew for a few months now. And Carlos _knew_ he could give Harold a better time than bland-as-flour-sophomore Billy could. Carlos did his best to swallow down the returning pang of jealousy; Harold was an angel on earth and Billy was a lucky son of a bitch. He watched Harold interact with Billy and George, smiling and laughing. Carlos couldn’t stay upset seeing a smile on that face.

It was better to see that Harold Hutchins was happy.

Carlos bounded into the living room, novelty mug in hand, and whispered something into the ear of a freckled senior in a crop top - he was the one who was currently in control of the speakers - and the music started to hush. Carlos leapt onto the dark green couch while still holding the mug. “HEY, EVERYBODY!” Carlos shouted over the remaining chatter of freeloaders in his house, he raised the mug over his head. “WHO OF Y’ALL’S READY TO GET IN MY CLOSET WITH A STRANGER?” The mob of drunk and sweaty teenagers screamed ecstatically. Harold swallowed hard, Billy was sure he was dissociating, it was only a matter of time now.

“I’M FUCKIN’ READY!” Tommi shouted, hopping up onto the couch and nearly throwing Carlos off balance. “GIMMIE THE MUG!”

“Take it bitch, you almost killed me!” Carlos whined, shoving the mug into Tommi’s chest before she took it into her arms. The mass of teenagers closest to the hosts burst into laughter.

“AYE EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!” Another partygoer, Mason, screamed from the middle of the stairs where he had been standing for thirty minutes with a few bottles of beer. Thanks to Mason, the laughter died down to half-hearted whispers.

Tommi ruffled her fingers around in the mass of papers in Carlos’ novelty mug and pulled a piece of paper out. She read it with a cool expression, eyes going back up to the crowd and saying, “George.”

“ _WHAT?!_ ” George shot out of the stool he’d snagged a few minutes ago, he along with Harold and Billy were sitting on the opposite side of the kitchen at the counter separating it from the living room.

Tommi laughed triumphantly, giving George a smug smile from the couch. “Just kidding. Anyway,” George scowled and sat back in his seat. “I’m gonna read a name and Carlos is gonna read a name, and then whoever we draw has to go in the broom closet for seven minutes yaddah yaddah seven minutes in heaven. Brook will escort you two if there’s any trouble.”

Brook was the freckled senior in the crop top, he was comparable to a brick wall and had an interest in fashion. “Hi, I’m Brook.” He waved his meaty hand at everyone.

“We know who you are!” Mason shouted, clinging to the railing of the stairs for dear life.

“ _I_ didn’t know who he was,” Billy whispered to Harold and George. George softly elbowed Billy in the stomach.

“Let the bad choices begin!” Carlos announced as he pulled a name from the mug next. He read it, then he pulled one curtain of bangs out of his face to reveal a bagged eye and furrowed thick eyebrow to read it one more time. Carlos let his hair cover his eye again. “This just says “Mase” on it.”

“THAT’S ME!!” Mason called from his spot on the stairs. He stood, using the railing as support and pushed past a few other partygoers who were on the stairs as well. Tommi sighed heavily.

“Abby Walker.” Tommi said, letting the piece of paper she was holding flutter to the ground.

A girl wearing plum lipstick and a bright orange tank top that appeared to glow over her dark skin slid off the kitchen counter and made her way to the open broom closet. She leaned against the wall. _That must be Abby,_ Billy thought. Mason met her there and untied the sweater from around his head, dropping it to the floor (for a better picture, Mason was shirtless, he used to be _wearing_ the sweater) and gesturing to the closet.

“Afder you, m’dear.” Mason slurred.

“This would be easier if I was drunk too.” Abby muttered as she walked in. Mason went in after her and closed the door. Brook dashed to the door and leaned all his weight against it, giving Carlos and Tommi a thumbs up.

“Alright, moving along, moving along!” Carlos hopped down from the couch to turn the music back up. Tommi sat down in the couch and fished another name out of the mug, _Tommi McNille,_ it read. She crumpled it and dropped it onto the floor before resting her face in her hands. George saw some of it from inbetween two crowds of teenagers and he got back out of his seat. He turned to Harold and Billy.

“Hey, I’m gonna go talk to Tommi. I’ll be back maybe.” He said before turning away and beginning to strut in Tommi’s direction.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Harold shouted, chasing after his friend and sinking his fingers into George’s shirt. “Don’t leave me,” he whimpered.

“Dude, you need to talk to Billy. Whether it’s in that dark, depraved crevice called a closet or not.” George said, lightly shoving Harold backwards.

“Okay, you’re right.” Harold turned back to Billy who was calmly people watching, and then turned to George again. “I can’t, man. He took the bait but it wasn’t to be with me, he’s just doing it for himself.”

“Harold, what do we both know is going to happen?”

Harold stayed silent and swallowed dryly, George noticed his skin was glistening with sweat. He rested a hand on Harold’s shoulder and soothingly rubbed it. “Billy’s doing this because he wants to be with you, you know he’s shy Harold. He’s doing his best. But you gotta meet him in the middle or it won’t work.”

Harold sighed, patting George’s hand. “You’re right, no more playing around.”

“Good! Go tell him now!” George cheered.

“Okay here I go!” Harold and George turned in opposite directions to go their separate ways for the time being - to see that Billy was no longer where he was previously sitting. Where did he go??

Harold frantically looked around before the back of Billy’s head caught Harold’s eye at the dining table. There were lots of good snacks that Carlos and Tommi had prepared and some snacks and drinks that guests has generously brought as well. Harold sighed in relief and started forward again to join Billy at the table. During his journey, Carlos stepped infront of Harold from seemingly nowhere, the curly-headed boy walked right into him. He jumped back in alarm.

“You ready? Showtime’s in six minutes.” Carlos said teasingly.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Harold said.

“You sure you don’t wanna do a quick practice run with me in my room?” He smirked down at Harold. “I could _teach_ you a few things,” he offered.

Harold was absolutely mortified, his face turned a bright red. “Shh, pff, no!” He sputtered before bailing in the direction of Tommi and George. He’d just talk or whatever with Billy in the closet, then! 

___

While all of that was taking place, George had seated himself next to Tommi who hadn’t moved from her spot.

“Hey,” George started, “are you okay?”

Tommi looked up at George from inbetween dark red ringlets of hair before brushing them behind her head. She still seemed pretty bothered by George. “Oh, freshman George."

"Yup, it's me!" George said, pulling an opened roll of mentos out of his pocket. "Care for a breath mint?"

George experienced the sharp pain of Tommi's knuckles colliding with his arm, his mouth hung open in a hushed cry of pain and he touched where there would probably be a bruise very soon. "You know it's rude to ruin people's drinks?" Tommi said. George pathetically mewled in pain. "Alcohol costs money, you ever spend money before, kid?"

"Aye, don't jump to conclusions like that!" George said, rolling his shoulder. "It was Harold too. Just consider yourself lucky that we aren't freaks who would drop _roofies_ in everyone's drinks for kicks." Tommi was still mad. "Anyway, you looked upset before I came over here, you wanna talk about it?"

"I don't know you."

"That's fair."

They sat in silence for a while. _Four minutes left._

"I have a crush on that girl who went in the closet with th'drunk gremlin." Tommi finally said.

"Oh, ouch." George said, trying to sound sympathetic.

"Yeah."

"Does she know you like her?"

"She _should,_ " Tommi said in an aggravated tone.

"Well, okay," George said, "so you told her?"

"No, I thought this would work out!" Tommi said, kicking away the crumpled piece of paper with her name written inside. "Carlos and I are rigging the game for your friend and that dorky kid, I should've told him I wanted to rig the game for me too."

Before George could say anything more, Harold flopped limp onto the couch and smushed his face into George's shoulder. Harold groaned into the fabric of George's shirt. "Dude, what's wrong??" George asked, turning his attention to Harold. Harold groaned again, looking up at George.

"I tried, but I couldn't do it..." Harold whined.

"That's okay." George patted Harold's hair. "You'll get your chance soon enough." Tommi set the novelty mug down and got up from her seat. "Tommi, where are you going?!" George called. Tommi didn't answer him, she disappeared into the crowd. _Two minutes left._

Tommi stomped her way to the broom closet and looked up at Brook's full, rosy, freckled face, he was only a few inches taller than her. "Hey, Tommi." Poor Brook, he thought Tommi was there to chat it up. Tommi swiped a hand against Brook's side and toppled him over with one good shove. Surrounding partygoers gasped and hollered, expecting a fight, but then Tommi opened the broom closet to reveal Abby with her back pressed hard against the wall and her feet pressed tight into Mason's chest to keep him away from her.

"Oh, thank God my legs were getting tired!" Abby cried out.

"It wasn't even seven minutes, yet!" Mason protested. Abby thudded her feet back to the ground and walked out of the closet, smiling at Tommi.

"We gotta talk, Abby." Tommi said as she followed the girl.

Carlos hopped into "AAAND, TIME!" He shouted, a little late.

___

Those who were interested in playing (Including Mason, who had prodded and asked to put his name back in the mug because nothing happened with him and Abby for thirty minutes until Tommi looked for Mason’s old slip of paper herself and furiously threw it into the mug) regathered around the couch where Carlos and Tommi decided they would stand on every time they’d send two (un)lucky partygoers to stand in their broom closet for seven minutes. Carlos was casually bouncing in place on a seaweed colored couch cushion beside Tommi. They both pulled a slip of paper out of the novelty mug and pretended to read them. Then Carlos prodded Tommi’s foot with a toe to get her attention, when Tommi looked at him, he licked his upper lip. She nodded. Were they… _communicating?_

It all made sense once Carlos said: “Billy Donbe-Ahiro.”

The crowd hollered and questioned who Billy was. Billy sat up wide eyed like a meerkat. “ _Already?!_ ” He muttered under his breath. Harold patted Billy’s arm, unintentionally causing him to jump and eliciting an inaudible gasp from the slightly taller sophomore. Harold giggled nervously, stomach flashing with anticipation. George’s hand smacked against Harold’s chest and stayed there as if he were bracing himself.

Tommi smirkingly said: “Harold Hutchins.”

 _Harold Hutchins._ It repeated itself in Billy’s mind again as he looked around the room in disbelief, and then to Harold.

George bursted with enthusiasm over the resound of the majority of the living room talking amongst themselves and shook Harold’s shoulder. “ _OhmygoshI’msoexcitedforyouguys!_ ” He rambled, letting go of Harold’s shoulder and softly beating his fists against it instead.

“Hehey, looks like we didn’t get set up with strangers!” Harold said to Billy through more giddy laughter.

“I didn’t actually think this would happen…” Billy said as he watched Harold stand.

“Welp, we gotta play now!” Harold held out his hand for Billy, a coy smile on his face. “You ready?”

Billy’s eyes slowly traveled down from Harold’s to his outstretched palm. He quietly grasped it and Harold helped him up to his feet. Billy didn’t let go or _want_ to let go once he was standing, and neither did Harold. They made their way to the cramped broom closet with their hands tenderly joined together. It was like a weight had finally lifted off of Billy’s shoulders, this small action of holding hands; _this was it._ The one thing about Harold that had caught Billy's eye right from the beginning was his silly sheep hair, it only got more and more endearing as they became more familiar with eachother. Billy knew he wasn't eye candy, or approachable. All his life, Billy was reminded time and time again that he really wasn't the kind of person other people would notice in a crowd. He wore glasses, he had boring jet black hair and underdeveloped facial hair. There were subtle bags under his eyes from sleepless nights toiling over school assignments and study guides and he dressed semi formal. He wasn't entirely interested in approaching others in general, but, Harold, the rowdy kid with the weird hair pursued him. Harold and George pushed him to be more social, they made his life more exciting than it had ever been in years. Billy was thankful that these two eccentric boys decided they'd share their world with a quiet social outcast like him. They were his best friends now, _Harold_ was his best friend, and Billy was in love with him, and he was in love with Billy. It _almost_ seemed like Harold had loved him since he saw him in their choir class. How did this all suddenly be so perfect?

Well, Billy was reminded as they arrived at the entrance of that small and cramped broom closet, that there was one thing that kept this scenario from being perfect. _Billy had claustrophobia._

And that closet was definitely not the desirable width or length for two human beings to comfortably stand in. _Most_ teenagers got excited imagining themselves being in a cramped space with their lover, but to Billy, it made him feel paranoid. And this fact was hitting him like a ton of bricks now that it was finally time for him to go in there. Billy needed to calm himself down, he cleared his throat and said “After you,” to Harold. Was Harold his boyfriend now?

“Don’t mind if I do,” Harold said as he stepped into the closet.

Another thing that frightened Billy was _suffocating._ Billy’s mind loved to associate small spaces with higher than normal probabilities of suffocating - more specifically to death. Harold was pleasantly watching Billy.

“S’nice and cozy.” Harold offered.

Billy sighed over the urge to argue with that statement and allowed his mind to go blank. Atleast that would prolong the impending panic attack. He stepped in across from Harold. There was roughly a foot of distance between them, Harold noticed. Billy noticed this as well. Brook peeked at them from the entrance and smiled at the two underclassmen in the broom closet.

“Have fun in there, you two.” Brook suggestively said before closing the door.

Harold and Billy were in the dark now.

“Um, Billy?” Harold asked timidly.

Billy could hardly see anything, he felt the walls gradually closing in on them. He leaned his weight against a wall for stability. “Yeah, Harold?” He was going to hold himself together, he could do this for seven minutes, Harold deserved this.

Harold started to giggle. “This is an exciting first date, wouldn’t you say?” 

“I’d say a shoddy date, what’s so romantic about being in such a _small, dark,_ space?” Billy pressed his weight more into the wall, as if it were moving and he were trying to keep it in place. Harold giggled more. Billy always thought Harold's laugh was cute, everything about Harold was cute. Billy knew Harold didn't deserve to die of suffocation in such a small space.

Billy stayed quiet for a moment, trying to remind himself the room wasn’t shrinking. And it wouldn't make any sense if he and Harold suffocated in here, _there was plenty of air, they wouldn't run out!_ “So, should we, kiss now? Or something?”

“Only if you want to, I mean, we just started dating.”

“Oh, no…” Billy couldn’t reason with himself anymore.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t be in here anymore, I can’t be in here the room feels like it’s shrinking it’s too small-” Billy breathed, trying to sound calm.

“ _What?_ " Harold sounded concerned. Billy was breathing hard now.

“I’m claustrophobic I-I thought I could do this” He whimpered as he sank down the wall he was leaning against. “ _Oh God,_ ” Lots of things were running through Billy’s mind now, mostly unpleasant things. Harold blindly listened in horror as his boyfriend breathed deathly intense as if he were drowning in air.

“Hey, _hey!_ " Harold shouted to Brook on the other side, he frantically pounded on the door. “ _Open the door! Billy’s having a panic attack!_ "

The door swung open to reveal Harold and Billy, who was crouched and covering his face. It had only been a minute. Billy toppled over onto his side gasping for air. Teenagers laughed and gave concerned looks.

“Did _you_ get set up with a claustrophobe?” Brook asked Harold.

Harold didn’t answer, he knelt beside Billy and fretfully rubbed his arm. “ _You’re okay, everything’s okay,_ ” he assured his boyfriend. Billy started to calm down, but now he was more ashamed than scared. He frowned at Harold, still catching his breath and he sat up. “Billy,” Harold said.

“I, should get out of here…” Billy said.

“What?” Harold asked again as Billy stood up. “Wait, wait, _Billy,_ ”

Billy ignored Harold and showed himself to the front door, feeling everyone’s eyes on him. Harold followed him outside. “You _can’t_ go!” Harold protested, tears welling up in his eyes. Billy finally stopped in his tracks. He turned around to face Harold. “I’ve been trying so hard to spend time with you like this, you can’t leave again!” Harold sniffled hard and wiped at his eyes, unfortunately, he couldn't keep up with how fast his tears were falling.

It hurt to watch Harold cry, but Harold had to have been in more pain than Billy was. He had been very avoidant to Harold and George in the past, he hadn’t realised how much it affected Harold until he saw it now, clear as day on his face. Billy came back to Harold and wiped away the tears that fell for him. Harold hugged him tightly, tears quelling.

“I fucked up, Harold. I just wanted to play the stupid game like a normal teenager, I wanted to kiss you and hold you in there. But I couldn’t do that for you… I’m so sorry,”

“No!” Harold said as he looked up at Billy from where his face had previously rested. “You came here and you took risks for me,” Harold started to laugh, “you didn’t have to, and you didn’t even know if we would get picked together or not. You even said, this was out of your comfort zone for you.”

“Well, sure, but it shouldn’t be…” Billy was hugging Harold back now. 

“Billy, I’ve struggled with social anxiety too. I was only lucky enough to meet George when we were little… I’m just sayin’, I wouldn’t want to be at this party either if it weren’t for you.” Billy and Harold stared into eachother’s eyes, it was soothing for them. “Not everybody wants to be at a party like this, and not everybody likes being in a broom closet for seven minutes. Even if their boyfriend’s in the closet with them.”

Billy giggled softly. “And we can kiss out here, too.”

“That’s awfully confident of you, Bill.” Harold said. “But it’s easier said than done.” He teased.

Billy kissed Harold on the forehead. “Done.” He said.

Harold looked up at Billy in disbelief. He kissed him! It was bound to happen, _but it happened!!_

Harold smirked and hopped up (he was due for his final growth spurt in the next month) to peck Billy on the lips. Billy laughed, crouching a few inches to return the kiss ten times over.


End file.
